These sugar cookies remind me of the one I used to always pick out at Mrs. Field’s Bakery at the mall when I was 12 years old. My mom would drop my cousin (my best friend) and I off there for a couple of hours and we would try to find something to spend our money on. One time we both fell in love with a floral romper with a lacey collar from a store called 5-7-9. I can still remember the pearl buttons. Since neither one of us had enough money to buy it, we decided to pool our money together and share the romper. So she would wear it to church one Sunday, and I would wear it the next. What makes me laugh when I look back at our deal is that there is no way we should have ever worn the same size. She was a stick, and I was a little bit… well, not a stick. When I would ask her if I was fat (as adolescent girls like to do), she would assure me I was not at all, just pleasantly plump. I felt much better!
Anyone want to go in with me on a pair of Tieks? You wear them one week, and then I’ll have them for the next? Life was pretty simple back when you could go to the mall all by yourself, buy half a floral romper, and then stop by the bakery and pick out a sugar cookie as big as your face.
I think it’s the hint of lemon and touch of butter flavoring in these that bring me back to that mall bakery. I’m generally a thick, soft cookie kind of a girl, but I do really love the texture of these too. The have a nice crisp edge and a little chew in the middle. I like to top them in coarse sparkling sugar for an extra sweet crunch.
I was really hungry for a sugar cookie when I came across Jaclyn’s Glazed Lemon Cookies on Cooking Classy. I adore her recipes, so I slightly adapted her recipe to make these, which are a little more sugar cookie like and a little less lemony. If you don’t already follow Cooking Classy, you really should go check it out!
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Bakery Style Sugar Cookies
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 24 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
A thin, delicate, buttery sugar cookie with a hint of lemon and a sprinkle of sparkling sugar on top.
Ingredients
- 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 3/4 cup butter softened
- 1 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon butter flavoring (sold by other flavor extracts)
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- zest of one lemon
- sparkling sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cornstarch and set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar on medium speed.
- Add egg and egg yolk and mix until well incorporated. Add vanilla extract, butter flavoring, lemon juice, and zest and mix.
- Turn speed to low and gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
- I used my 1 1/2 tablespoon size scoop to make 24 dough balls. Dip the top of each dough ball in sparkling sugar and placed them 9 at a time on Silpat lined baking sheet. These cookies will spread when baking.
- Bake for 11-13 minutes. Cool on a cooling rack.
Notes
Adapted from Cooking Classy’s Glazed Lemon Cookies
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Cookie
- Calories: 141
- Sugar: 11g
- Sodium: 130mg
- Fat: 6.3g
- Saturated Fat: 3.8g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2.0g
- Trans Fat: 0.2g
- Carbohydrates: 20g
- Fiber: 0.3g
- Protein: 1.6g
- Cholesterol: 31mg
Ciara Attwell (@MyFussyEater) says
These look fab! How do you get them all so uniform? My cookies are always totally different sizes!!
Julie says
Thanks Ciara! I always use a cookie scoop, and scrap it off on the edge of the mixing bowl so that its level. But even then, my cookies are always a little different. I just picked the ones that were similar for the picture :0)
Chloe @ foodlikecake says
These are so pretty!
Julie says
Thanks Chloe!
Sue M. says
I made these today and while I’m not usually a sugar cookie fan, these were excellent! My husband just loved them.
Julie says
I’m so glad you like them! And your husband too. Thanks for letting me know!
Charlotte Brush says
Just found your site and really enjoy the stories, pictures of the recipe and am looking forward to making some of them. Thanks for doing this and God Bless.
Julie says
You are very welcome Charlotte! Thanks for saying hello and happy baking!
elena says
Da provare
Joy says
Hi Julie, thanks for sharing this recipe. I like to ask if it’s ok to omit the butter flavoring. I’ve not actually heard of this although I do bake quite often. Alternatively, is there any other flavoring u think I can substitute this with? Thanks loads!
Julie says
Yes, they will still taste great without it. Enjoy!
Kim Waltrip says
I made these today but the texture turned out almost like a biscuit inside. Any thoughts on what I may have done wrong? Thanks
Julie says
Kim, I’m not sure what could have caused that. Sounds like they might not have flattened out as much as mine did?
Elease says
The photos are absolutely beautiful. Is there anything I can sub in place of the lemon juice?